Where do you find rest?

7 Capital Vices = 7 Head Sins or 7 Primary Habits

Avarice Gluttony Anger Sloth Vainglory Lust Envy Pride

“Pride is ruthless, sleepless unsmiling concentration of self.” —C.S. Lewis

Envy is the ruthless, sleepless, unsmiling concentration of self-hatred.

Envy is the hatred of someone else’s borrow glory.

Vainglory is the attempt to steal all glory including God’s.

Sloth is the avoidance of Love.

Matthew 25:26 (ESV) 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

What is the work?

Matthew 22:36–40 (ESV) 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Tell About Love God Neighbor

“My life for yours.”— Jesus “Your life for mine.”— Vainglory

8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Matthew 3:8 (ESV) 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

Slothfulness is the avoidance of the work that God has created for us.

Sloth is the avoidance of Love.

The Sloth hears… Romans 8:28 (ESV) 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for [my comfort], for those who are called according to his purpose.

God says. . . Romans 8:28 (ESV) 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

“The Slothful person, in this sense, is the one who resists the effort of doing day after day after day whatever it takes to keep the bonds of love strong and living and healthy, whether he or she feels particularly inspired about doing it or not” —Rebecca Konydyk-DeYoung “Glittering Vices”

“Sloth is not to be confused with laziness “Sloth is not to be confused with laziness. A sloth man may be a very busy man. He is a mand who goes through the motions, who flies on automatic pilot. Like a man with a bad head cold, he has mostly lost his senses of taste and smell. . . people come and go, but through glazed eyes he hardly notices them. He is letting things run their course. He is getting through life” —Frederick Buechner

“[Sloth is] evenings with number obliterated by television, evenings neither of entertainment nor of education, but a narcotic defense against time and duty.” —Richard Neuhaus

“Sloth is the vice of those who want security of having God’s love without the real sacrifice and ongoing struggle to be made anew.” —Rebecca Konydyk-DeYoung “Glittering Vices”

“Grace is costly because it compels a person to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer “The Cost of Discipleship”

Where do you find rest?

(1) You have trouble starting work. Proverbs 24:30–34 (ESV) 30 I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, 31 and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. 32 Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. 33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, 34 and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

23 In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty. (1) You have trouble starting work. Proverbs 14:23 (ESV) 23 In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.

(2) You have trouble finishing work. Proverbs 12:27 (ESV) 27 Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth. Proverbs 20:4 (ESV) 4 The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing.

(2) You have trouble finishing work. Proverbs 19:24 (ESV) 24 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish and will not even bring it back to his mouth.

(3) You have made an idol out of leisure Proverbs 21:17 (ESV) 17 Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not be rich.

(4) You are undisciplined in your sleep. Proverbs 6:9–11 (ESV) 9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, 11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

(5) You are prone to make excuses. Proverbs 26:13 (ESV) 13 The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!”

(6) You are wise in your own eyes. Proverbs 26:16 (ESV) 16 The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.

Where do you find rest?

“without [diversions] we should be in a state of weariness, and this weariness would spur us to seek a more solid means of escaping from it. But diversion amuses us, and leads us unconsciously to death.” —Blaise Pascal

Where do you find rest?

Solution to our slothfulness is not our work.

Solution to our slothfulness is Sabbath.

Hebrews 2:14 (ESV) 14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

Lamentations 2:6 (ESV) 6 He has laid waste his booth like a garden, laid in ruins his meeting place; the Lord has made Zion forget festival and Sabbath, and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.

Matthew 11:28–30 (ESV) 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Proverbs 3:5–6 (ESV) 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Sabbath is the work of Love.